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A collaboration of nonprofits in Michigan, including the United Way and Americorps, will provide one-on-one tutors to struggling K-3 students in 16 schools across the state in a program called the Michigan Reading Corps. In a pilot held last year, Americorps volunteers tutored students for 20 minutes a day, and principals reported that most students receiving the services gained a year in reading skills. "I think this program is a total game changer for Michigan," said Tony Campbell, a member of the Michigan Community Service Commission.

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An elementary school in Mississippi provides intensive tutoring sessions for young students who have been identified with possible signs of dyslexia. Two full-time and six part-time teaching assistants teach the students using a multisensory reading and spelling program. The lab was developed in response to a state rule calling for dyslexia screening in kindergarten and first grade.

Middletown City Schools in Ohio can hire six full-time and 10 part-time reading tutors to provide interventions for struggling K-3 readers as the district prepares to meet the state's third-grade reading mandate. Paid for with federal Title I grant funds, the tutors will assess students' reading levels to identify those needing help as well as write and implement intervention plans that can include tutoring and summer literacy camps.

Michigan's State Board of Education released a document this week calling for increased requirements for admission to teacher-training and student-teaching programs, more opportunities for alternative teacher certification and the use of multiple measures of teacher evaluation. The board also outlined efforts to improve school financing, student achievement and early childhood education.

An enrichment program at six New York City middle schools aims to use business to help improve achievement among at-risk students. The program is staffed by business leaders, who volunteer to act as mentors, as well as full-time teachers and paid fellows from AmeriCorps, who work with students during the day and after school on projects related to business and marketing.

Detroit school officials are partnering with local newspapers and other corporate sponsors to recruit and train volunteer tutors to ensure all area students are reading at grade level by third grade. Officials are setting a goal of 100,000 hours of reading help during the next year. District officials say they hope to deploy tutors trained in the Reading Recovery method to all of the city's 200 preschool classrooms and eventually to K-3 classrooms as well.